If You Love Me
by c.92
Summary: One shot. ‘You cannot kill me, Harry Potter. Your power of love weakens your power of hatred.’


**Eh-heh, hey guys. there's a reason why I've put on a suit of armour, it's so I won't get hurt by readers who are annoyed that I haven't updated Hazel-Green Eyes. .**" **Well, I _think_ that I've overcome my block **(huh, right, it took more than three months to do that sure...sure...)** Hopefully these Easter holidays I will make progress. Notice: _hopefully_. I wrote this on the first Saturday of the hols, but i got the idea the night before, while I was in bed trying to get to sleep.**

**Anyway, Thanks Everlasting Icelands (Alice to me) for making the sentences make sense.**

* * *

If You Love Me

'AND THAT'S FOR DUMBLEDORE!' Harry yelled, as he shot yet _another_ curse at Voldemort.

To Harry's surprise, Voldemort knelt over and dropped his wand. Harry ran to kick the wand aside before Voldemort's spider-like fingers could wrap around it. Once out of reach, Harry picked up the wand and snapped it cleanly into two, hoping that Voldemort didn't keep another wand on himself just in case.

The dome of light surrounding Harry and Voldemort did not disappear, like it did last time, in the graveyard where Cedric had died. Instead, the criss-crossing lights glowed even brighter and seemed to grow stronger. Harry heard whispers coming from all around him, and each ray of light seemed to be quivering. The whisperings became louder and Harry saw the mesh of light seemed to be shaking more fiercely.

Harry focused back on Voldemort.

'You cannot destroy me, Harry. I made sure of it long ago.'

'Why not?' Harry asked sharply.

'Love.'

'_WHAT?'_ cried Harry.

'You can't kill me because of what you think of love.'

'I can. Dumbledore says –'

'Dumbledore is _dead_!'

'Even, though it is an ancient form of magic, love is at its deepest, it is the strongest magic there is.'

Voldemort laughed a chilling laugh that made the hair on the back of Harry's neck stand up.

'What is the opposite of love Harry? Hatred. Hate is strong too. Is it not true that you loathe me? Is it not true that you loathe Severus? Is it not true that you despise the Malfoys? Is it not true that you hate Wormtail? Harry, think of what has happened to those people. Think of what hatred has done. You and I hate each other, _but_, you have love; a weakness. It weakens your power of hatred. Do you see where I am getting at?'

'Love is not my weakness. It's yours.'

Voldemort threw Harry a glare, daring him to explain to Lord Voldemort how love was not a weakness.

'You never knew love. You never had it. You never gave it. You never accepted it. That's why you can't stand it. You're mother died giving birth to you in a Muggle orphanage.'

Voldemort's eyes widened, he had thought that nobody would find out about the history of his childhood.

'You were born, and you grew up thinking that because you were dumped in an orphanage. No-one loved you. That's where you were wrong. Why do you think that Merope gave birth to you? She could have used magic to save herself. But she didn't. For two reasons.

'She used magic to manipulate your father, and when she stopped giving him the love potion, he left her. One downside of love. The other reason – she had a child – _you_. She felt that she couldn't use magic because of what it had done to her, but she gave birth to you, rather than saving herself. She loved you.'

Voldemort stared down at Harry for a few moments, then the corners of his lips twisted up.

'See what I mean Harry? She loved someone else, and didn't save herself from death. I am so glad you now understand Harry. It has taken a long time for you to see what I have been pointing at.'

Harry glared at Voldemort, his eyes full of hatred. 'See? You don't understand it! Your mother knew she was going to die! She felt she had nothing left to live for! There was no _point_ in staying alive anymore, so she gave birth to a downright murderer and coward! YOU IN OTHER WORDS! SHE SHOULD BE HAPPY NOT KNOWING WHAT BECAME OF HER GOOD-FOR-NOTHING SON!'

Voldemort darted up and his hand flashed to Harry's throat so quickly that Harry had not been prepared and fell under Voldemort's power.

'You cannot kill me, Harry Potter. Your power of love weakens your power of hatred.' Voldemort's fingers tightened, causing Harry to struggle to breathe, trying desperately to get oxygen to circulate into his lungs.

Harry gripped his wand tightly. It felt as if the wand was a hot iron, burning the flesh of his hands.

'The Killing Curse, Harry, can only be performed if the person _enjoys _seeing people be killed, _wants_ to see the other person die. He has to feel the emotion _strongly_, to kill him, to see the light leave his eyes. Harry, you cannot kill me. I have made sure that you cannot kill me. You cannot bear to kill Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, greatest sorcerer in the world…'

The wand in Harry's hand seemed to shake with the dome.

'I _want_ to see you die…I feel that I want to _kill_ Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin, greatest sorcerer in the world …' said Harry, through gulps of air.

'You're killing yourself, Harry.'

'There's one more death I have not yet tried to avenge for… this is for your mum. _AVADA KEDAVRA!'_

As the green light erupted from Harry's burning wand, Voldemort was thrown backwards and the dome surrounding Harry and Voldemort exploded, and Harry felt his head rip open. The lightening bolt scar on his forehead burned and Harry's body went rigid. He dropped his wand and distantly he heard the wood clatter to the ground. Harry dropped onto his knees and gripped his burning hot head with his hands. He nails were digging into his skull, but nothing could comfort him.

Around him, the strands of light had parted and each went on their way, shooting all around the battle scene, some circling the Death Eaters, others shooting off into the distance.

Harry opened his eyes slightly to see what was happening. The lights dancing around the scared and confused followers of Voldemort plunged into the hearts of the Death Eaters. They breathed in heavily, then grasped their chests. There were echoes of painful shrieks, some louder than others as more than one strand of light had pierced through them.

The shrieks rang incandescently, and everyone from the Order had their hands pressing against the sides of their heads. The pain in Harry's head felt as though it would never lose its strength.

The shrieking dropped down a couple of notches, and members of the Order could look up again. The Death Eaters were now on their knees, breaking in and out heavily, they were covered in sweat and blood, and there was that faint sound of _drip drip drip…_

The pain in Harry's scar had become a more tolerable level of burning, and he turned his head around to survey what the effects of the lights were. Almost at once, light sprouted from the top of the Death Eaters' bodies, in all angles and rained down, like water from a fountain, onto the ground, burning the grass, rubble, and whatever else was left.

Harry stood up. He staggered to where the limp body of Voldemort lay.

He felt three shadows behind him, and turned around to see the faces of Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Harry smiled grimly, and his friends returned the smile with ones that showed weariness, but with pride.

Harry was about to speak when a hand grabbed his ankle.

Harry yelped, as he tried to yank his leg away, but only managed to trip, and twisted his leg.

'You can't kill me Harry.'

Harry could feel the spidery fingers wrap tighter and tighter. When Harry thought that he could no longer feel his foot, and was sure that there was absolutely no blood circulating down there, Harry felt something hot running around his foot.

He glanced down. No, there was nothing. It was just the surge of blood being able to pump around his foot once again.

Voldemort's body lay rigid, and out of nowhere, a strong wind picked up, and blew across Harry and Voldemort's body. As the wind swept Voldemort's body, it seemed that Voldemort's body was made out of sand, and the grains of sand were swept up into the air. Eventually, Voldemort's body dissolved, into a grey, grainy, sandy sort of substance. The sand blew around the four teenagers. Around and around, travelling faster and faster, before finally coming to a sudden stop in front of Harry.

'You can't kill me, Harry Potter.' The grains had gathered into the form of Voldemort, with his robes flapping in the wind. Harry stared at the form of Voldemort straight in the eye. Those eyes were the same, empty and lifeless. 'I made sure of it long ago,' it said. The form of Voldemort sneered evilly, before slamming himself into Harry, who was knocked backwards.

On the ground, Harry choked and spluttered, as blood came spurting out of his mouth.

'Harry! Harry, are you – well, you aren't exactly, alright…'

Harry coughed. _Oh yeah, I'm fine, I just got knocked backwards by some weird form Voldemort, I'm coughing up blood and my whole body, let alone my head, hurts._ 'Nah,' coughed Harry, 'I'm okay.'

'We need to get you back to headquarters,' came a brisk voice. 'Ron, d'you think you can support Harry?' After some quick arrangements, Harry had his arms around Ron and Hermione's shoulders, and Ginny was ahead of them to get help.

The three best friends limped across the grounds in silence, but Harry's mind was far from quiet. _You can't kill me Harry. I made sure of that long ago…_ what was that suppose to mean? Harry had destroyed all the Horcruxes hadn't he? Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's tiara and Gryffindor's shield. Unless Voldemort made _eight_ Horcruxes instead of seven to confuse people…or maybe…or maybe Harry made a mistake. Maybe one of the objects was _not_ a Horcrux…maybe something _else_ was and Harry didn't know…

Harry stopped.

'Harry, what's wrong?'

Harry hadn't killed Voldemort. Oh no, Voldemort was still very much alive. Harry's heart beat faster. No, this couldn't be true.

Harry closed his eyes and pictured every Horcrux that there was. The diary…the ring…the locket…the cup…the tiara…the shield…

The shield.

Harry ran his hand through his hair. How could he have gotten it wrong? Maybe it wasn't Gryffindor's shield. Harry and his friends had spent the longest time finding _something_ of Gryffindor's, and they had ended up with nothing.

'Harry, what's wrong, is it your scar?'

Harry shook his head. He ran his finger down his scar, and stopped, right at the tip of it.

'No…no I...how can…can't be…no way…Horcrux…'

'What Harry? Come on, spit it out! What can't be what?'

'Shush Ron! What's the matter Harry, is there something about the Horcruxes that we've missed?'

'Gryffindor's shield…'

'What about the shield?' asked Ron. 'We spent a while finding it, but we eventually destroyed it. And for once, we ended up destroying a Horcrux without leaving a deep mark on—'

Hermione was looking from Harry to Ron, Ron to Harry. Ron was looking at Harry with eyes as large a dinner plates. Harry had only once seen Ron so scared, and that was years ago, when they encountered Aragog, the giant Acromantula.

'Harry,' said Ron, with a strained voice, 'you – you don't think…'

'What?' asked an annoyed Hermione. She didn't like not knowing what others knew of, especially if it had such importance. 'What do you two know and I don't?'

Harry continued to look disturbed and Ron was still gaping at Harry with his mouth hanging open.

'Harry, if this has something to do with the Horcruxes you should really share it around…Okay, fine, I'm getting Ginny,' said Hermione in a huff. She disappeared with a crack and appeared a few moments later with a confused Ginny.

'What's this all about? This had better be more important than Harry's health.'

'I don't know Ginny! It's something about the Horcruxes—'

'_What?_ What did they say? And how come Ron looks like that?'

'I don't know what they said. Something like…destroying Gryffindor's shield without leaving a deep cut in it or something.'

'Hermione,' said Ginny slowly, 'the Horcruxes…every Horcrux had a some kind of small cut on it when we found them, and large damage after we were done with it…don't you get it?'

Hermione looked confused for a second, then her face cleared.

'The shield,' she muttered. 'The shield was fake. It wasn't a Horcrux. Every Horcrux had had a crack in it somewhere, somehow. The shield didn't have one…it was a carving…'

Hermione and Ginny joined Ron in staring at Harry, but had different expressions. Hermione looked at Harry with tears in her eyes. They had failed something. Hermione had failed something. Ginny looked at Harry with pain contorted on her face. She showed sympathy, and Ron's face was just awe and amazement.

Harry ran his finger down his scar again.

'Neither can live while the other survives…neither can live while the other survives…I can't live while Voldemort survives…'

'ARGH! I HATE VOLDEMORT!' The other three jumped. 'RON! TELL ME YOU HATE VOLDEMORT!'

'I hate him, Harry! Wh—'

'HERMIONE! TELL ME YOU HATE HIM!

'I hate him, Harry, I hate him! Harry tell us what—'

'Ginevra, tell me you hate him.'

'I loathe him Harry. Tell us—'

'You want to seem him dead right Ron?'

'Not particularly, you know, dead body and all … I just want to know that he's dead.'

'You want to see him destroyed don't you Hermione?'

'Of course Harry.'

Harry look straight at Ginny.

'Do you want to kill him?'

'Yes, but you already did…'

He took a step so he was closer to her.

'Ginny, I love you.'

'I – I know Harry – I love you too – but—'

Ginny started panting, her eyes dashing to look at Hermione and Ron, then she looked up so Harry could see those bright brown eyes, now glistening with tears.

'No Harry – I – I – can't–'

'Ginny, what does he want?'

'Ginny tell us!'

'Harry, no, I can't. I can't! Ron! Hermione! He wants – he wants – he wants me to kill him!'

Ron and Hermione exploded.

'Harry there's no way—'

'ARE YOU INSANE? YOU GO OFF KILLING THE SOUL PARTS OF AN EVIL GUY THEN GET TO YOUR HERO SIDE TELLING _MY_ LITTLE SISTER TO – THERE IS NO F—'

'Harry! You can't! Don't make her do it!'

'Harry, I can't do that! You don't know how much you mean to me!'

'— WAY YOU ARE GONNA GET HER TO DO THAT!'

'Harry – I – I love you for Merlin's sake! How can you –'

'Ginny, I love you.'

'I know Harry, I know! I love you too!'

'Ginny,' said Harry firmly. Tears were streaming down the red-head's face, and she was gasping for breath. 'Ginny, you have meant the world to me. Like I said last year, I am truly sorry that I was a git and didn't spend more time with you. I was blind. Love can be blind I suppose. Ginny, you mean the world to me.'

'You mean the world to me too,' choked Ginny.

'If you love me, you will do it.'

'Harry –'

'Do you love me?'

'Harry – I—'

'Ginny, do you love me?'

Ginny looked up sadly. 'Yes.'

'You have to do it before the others get here. No-one can ever know what happened. No-one except you three.'

'Oh Harry, how can you do this to us?' sobbed Hermione. 'We'll miss you. We'll miss you heaps.'

'I'll miss you guys too. I'll miss being here. I'll miss everything.'

'You must be really brave, Potter, or really stupid.'

Harry laughed bitterly. 'Probably both, Ron. But no, I'm not brave, I'm terrified. Don't be surprised if I back out at the last second.'

Harry turned to Ginny. 'You have to strongly feel that you _want_ to kill Voldemort, Ginny. You _want_ to kill him. You loathe him, despise him…'

Harry gave Ginny his wand and turned around and walked about twenty feet away from the group.

Harry looked around. This was going to be the last time he would see his home. A voice flashed through his head. The voice of an old man, but had extraordinary power. _'Help will always be given at Hogwarts for those who ask for it.'_ Hogwarts had been the place where everything had started, Voldemort's magical schooling, a place where Harry felt he was loved. A place he could comfortably call home. A place where he could get help whenever he needed it.

When he had turned back around, Ron had his hand on Ginny's shoulder, and Hermione was holding Ginny's hand.

Ginny pointed her wand at Harry, but it was shaking badly.

'You hate him Ginny! You loathe him! You despise him! Voldemort killed my parents! Voldemort killed Lupin! Voldemort killed so many people! He killed your parents!'

Harry saw that Ginny's face darkened, even though her face became even more wet.

'_Avada Kedavra!'_

x

High above, in the sky, an exquisite bird, with bright, burning plumage, had watched not only the scene below him unfold, but everything that had happened in the last couple of centuries. As he watched the flash of green erupt from a wand which he had provided the core to, he gave a sad, quivering note.

The moment Harry Potter touched the ground, the bird erupted into flames, his ashes blown away by the wind, lost forever.

Left, were hearts, all etched with a scar.

* * *

**I know the end sucks! Maybe I should have left it with_ Avada Kedavra_ but I wanted to make it that when Harry died ... 'the bird' died. Yeah, if you're smart, then you should know what bird, how Harry knew that he was to kill himself, and why he _blackmailed_ poor Ginny to kill him. It kinda makes me want to kick Harry - you know, down there - where it hurts. Or maybe just slap him across the face. _But_ I can't, can I?**

**Once again, thanks alice for making this story make sense, I would have most likely have confused readers if you didn't fiddle around with the words and sentences.**

**Anyhow, reviews would be greatly appreciated, but I do understand that many people can't be bothered to review. they just read and leave the page, searching for another story that they won't review. Others however give reviews. half of them just say 'WOW' and leave it at that. The other half actaully give reviews! Meaning, they give FEEDBACK, so they say that this and this was good, but that and that was good, and there is where you can improve.**

**Okay, there is no point in writing this stupid thing, but I just feel like typing up random things.**

**Well, my readers, the blue button is just down there, please use up a few of your precious minutes to review!**


End file.
